Why might "Skeptics" join ATS

Originally posted by cpdaman
well byrd skeptics search for the truth right or do they spend more time debunking unfounded theory's based on there perception of the way things really are?

I'm not sure I understand that. I think the answer you want is that if I see something that jars with my understanding of the world, I go read that document (usually. If it's not the Same Old Thing Again) and then I go back to see what sources that document has.

Then I check the source's sources (if it's translations of Sumerian, for example, I look at photos of the original cuneiform and look at some of the symbols to check that the words appear in translations and then I compare multiple versions.)

If it's science, I google for papers on the topic and on related topics (like "quantum entanglement") and read encyclopedia articles on it to get a quick basic grasp of the idea. When I reply, I cite sources.

Next, I check to see which ideas tend to be more popular and who's supporting it (if there's a bunch of physicists supporting a biological paper, I tend to trust that less than if there's a bunch of biologists supporting it.) If I'm very suspicious, I google the authors' credits to see if they are or were on a project that may have biased them (such as a drug company paying for a medical study.)

I read fast, so I'm often skimming this. Often I stick with the abstracts but will dive into a full paper if need be.

If it's a topic I know a lot about (because I've typed about it before) then I'm likely to give a quick answer and few or no links.

But it's hardly a gut reaction. A good skeptic is someone who checks the sources and goes to original sources and looks for links and biases. A bad skeptic simply debunks and does no research.

and i would be more than genuinely happy if you could save me a lil time and tell me and the rest of the board (who may be curious) a short list of any alternative theory's you may believe? i am not trying to make a game and ask eveyone, actually you and the two other amigo's are the opinions i am really most intrested in. honestly

Short list?

If you ask what I believe about most topics, you'll find I'm neutral. If you ask about specific things (the Apollo moon hoax), I do have some beliefs that can be strongly held, based on evidence but (as with the Ankytheria mechanism and Voynich Manuscript) can change if someone provides me solid and well-documented proof.

(I assume you don't want to hear about the alternative theories I believe in such as the paper I'm writing that challenges an interpretation of a famous rock art site or the one I wrote proposing a mathematical formula (very alternative) for determining the spread of rumors in a communications channel or things like not supporting the theory that supernova ejecta align themselves with the galactic magnetic field. I have lots of alternative beliefs like that, but they're of no interest to this board and they're pretty weird and abstract and based on stuff that would just make you yawn to death with boredom.)

Originally posted by Byrd
I assume you don't want to hear about the alternative theories...
or things like not supporting the theory that supernova ejecta align themselves with the galactic magnetic field.

Never assume anything

I would be interested in that

I came here to challenge people concept of reality.

Originally posted by youngskeptic
I came here to challenge people concept of reality.

Any particular concept of reality, or such concepts in general?

Originally posted by youngskeptic
I came here to challenge people concept of reality.

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. by Albert Einstein."

I agree 100%

Originally posted by disownedsky

Originally posted by youngskeptic
I came here to challenge people concept of reality.

Any particular concept of reality, or such concepts in general?

Not really

I think the original post is asking why do most skeptics say they are right and the everything else is wrong. example: Instead of saying , in my opinion this is the truth. They say this is the way it is and everyone else is wrong.But in all fairness the skeptic isn't the only ones doing it. It seems that everyone does it at one time or another.

If im replying to a post and i dont agree, I try to say, in my opinion based on this video or web site i think this proves what im saying. Unless its a personal experience, Than i will say this was real and Most of the time I cannot show proof. But i know it was real so certainly i believe it. But I just found a post that changed my whole view on everything i believed. It rocked the whole foundation of my beliefs.

The post is called, they come from within. written by member Mikeboydus.
So sceptic's are welcome in my eyes. Because like believers, they have the power to change views through alternative thought and research. I would hate to walk through life just listening to the believer. That would keep me to closed minded. And i dont think that would be to healthy.Me personally, I am a believer and a skeptic. But for the most part i am the believer with an open mind.Thank you ats for an awsome place for us to come to. And i did think that the moderators where One sided at first. But after doing some research and looking at more post and replies made by them, i seen that wasnt the case. They are believers and skeptics, just like most of us.And the hardcore skeptic just makes the believer dig deeper to prove his or her's point and vice-versa.It works both ways.And on the other hand, some people like playing devils advocate. meaning they may believe something but purposely tries to get answers by being a skeptic.Ok, im done. hope this post helps.

Thank you. and play nice.

Originally posted by russ1969
I would hate to walk through life just listening to the believer. That would keep me to closed minded. And i dont think that would be to healthy.Me personally, I am a believer and a skeptic. But for the most part i am the believer with an open mind.

Yes, the believer/skeptic dichotomy is dodgy at best. Skeptics can hold beliefs, but for a true skeptic, no belief is accepted as such unless the evidence for it is very strong.

For example, while the skeptic believes in biological evolution and an old Earth, it is because centuries of careful scientific research have produced overwhelming and highly consistent evidence that this is so, and have falsified all alternative hypotheses time after time. So, belief is justified, although not dogmatic belief.

A believer isn't really interested in evidence, their protestations aside. All information is cherry-picked to confirm the belief, and if it doesn't, it is ignored or labeled a lie, a conspiracy, the work of the Great Deceiver.

Originally posted by uberarcanist
Healthy skepticism is certainly warranted, but being stubborn and rejecting everything other than the official story doesn't help.

There is no 'official story', except in the minds of people who want their fantasies to be real. This is not the Soviet Union.

Oh, sorry, I forgot, that's just naive and gullible, isn't it? This is the Soviet Union. And the Americans never landed on the Moon either. And Atlantis just sank beneath the waves yesterday.

Sorry sorry sorry.

Not fat..lol.....I do eat a chilidog here and there though...I am not quick to believe nonsense like lizzard alien people and subjects along those lines. I have spent a decade in the deserts and never once have i seen ANYTHING strange. I might add that many many many of those nights I was using things that would have helped. Oh I have run into the odd Wackenhut idiot at gun shows and shops. Most have the IQ of a ripe apple, and I am by no means a Rhodes Scholar lol.......but honestly...I troll around and ENJOY most of what I read, and respect all points of view...even if i dont say it enough...The poblem I have with HUGE consipracy ideas is that I have worked in the system. Nobody can keep a secret...and if it were true the USAF had a "flying disk"...than there would be pieces of this thing for sale on ebay, and everybody at the Nevada test site would have pictures for sale. No joke, the important work they are doing out there I am positive is boring as hell but none the less important. I know the government lies, but dont forget most of the time if everybody is shouting ALIEN! the truth is probably something we have not even touched. Speaking of touched I am sounding like a moron and I am tired..later

I haven't always been a sceptic. I became a sceptic because I got tired of being wrong all the time.

My hero is James Randi.

I am a skeptic, simply, because I am determined not to be a sucker.

Originally posted by Tuning Spork
I haven't always been a sceptic. I became a sceptic because I got tired of being wrong all the time.

My hero is James Randi.

I am a skeptic, simply, because I am determined not to be a sucker.

Randi has certainly done lots of good work. When he looks into something closely, you know it's about to be well and truly debunked. As a retired magician and escape artist, he is very well versed in how people can be fooled. I especially admire how he's taken some famous faith healers down. Those people are really evil.

I'm a little disappointed that he's decided to refocus the million dollar challenge on celebrity psychics. I understand why, but I will miss being able to say: "got psychic powers? Go collect your million bucks." Of course, scam artists like Sylvia Browne have made much more than a million bucks without facing the challenge....

Id consider myself more of a 'skeptic' than a (for want of a better, general word) 'conspiracy theorist'.

Why do i come here?

Dunno.

I like the debate, i like hearing the other side of the story. More often than not ill disagree, but as with anything, you cant base an opinion on one side of the story, or one view.

and lets face it, theres worse ways to whittle away a lazy sunday afternoon, than browsing these forums.

what is a skeptic???

Secondly, a lot of people on this board need to look up the meaning of the term skeptic.

1. a person who questions the validity or authenticity of something purporting to be factual.
2. a person who maintains a doubting attitude, as toward values, plans, statements, or the character of others.
3. a person who doubts the truth of a religion, esp. Christianity, or of important elements of it.
4. (initial capital letter) Philosophy.
a. a member of a philosophical school of ancient Greece, the earliest group of which consisted of Pyrrho and his followers, who maintained that real knowledge of things is impossible.
b. any later thinker who doubts or questions the possibility of real knowledge of any kind.


So thusly, a skeptic DOES NOT disregard off hand. A skeptic researches and neither believes nor disbelieves a statement without validating the facts of the statement for themselves.


Why are we here?

for the same reason you are here... to bring the truth to light. be it the one you want, or the crux of the matter.

Love,

A Skeptic
(by definition 1 &2)

There are 3 sides to everything
Your side
Their side
and
the TRUTH
I think alot of people who are ripping on supposed "debunkers" only see their side of the story. For sake of argument, lets call the 2 sides
Debunkers
vs
Conspiracy Theorists

A conspiracy theoriest doesn't like a debunker because the debunker wants to disprove what the conspiracy theorist is advocating but keep in mind,
The debunker doesn't like the conspiracy theorist because the conspiracy theorist is trying to disprove what the debunker is advocating.

I think there are 3 types of people here:
1. hardline conspiracy theorists
2. hardline debunkers
3. truth seekers

I also believe that truth seekers are lumped into the debunker category because the truth seekers question and require proof when someone makes a statement here.

i've had a very interesting life with many strange situations presenting themselves. I was a major skeptic of phenomenons, miracles , religion, ufo's and unnatural abilities of the human mind. i would challenge everyone i came across with there wild stories of fantasy
"as i would have put it."
as a past skeptic i can say it is a belief factor in our brains. The belief of seeing is believing and fact is something to be proven, tested, showed, and repeated. i've got goose bumps remembering the old world of my mind before it was thrown into a blender. That is what it is like for a skeptic to have the seeing, proven, tested, show of his disbeliefs thrown into his world. I know the skeptic mind and if any are as closed and tuff as mine was, none of them could be shown anything on this site that will open them to a world of mystery and aw inspiring power. After what happened to me in the summer of 94' my life and beliefs are changed forever in a chain of events that would put these skeptics in a corner trying to wake up to the safe world they knew before their eyes were shown any truth to the fantasies they mocked.
i stay open minded to the posts i read here for i don't know the person telling their feelings, story, or theory. But i do know better then to pre judge and dismiss the unbelievable. I met a strange and wild character who knew how to end the argument with a skeptic like me, and the three months that followed were quite exciting and rememberable. i'll never be the same but it could never have happened on a computer so you'll have to wait for it to find them what ever it may be that you believe and they do not. Have pitty on them for they do not know anything other then what we see day in and day out of the "normal" news media. They also love a good debate as i used to. they feel in some way superior to challenge you guys and gals for they believe their unbelieving is a sign of higher intelligence. Only fools and children believe in the things on this site. Well i cant prove to a skeptic but i'm glad i know what i know and not acting like a fool anymore talking out my butt.

I would say that I am a skeptic.
I believe that "skeptics" get the raw end of the stick, SOMETIMES.
For example,
If someone says there are 5 alien races that regularly come to earth. My thought process would be as follows:
1. Wow that's a pretty spectacular claim. That would be incredible if it were true.
2. Please provide proof of your claim if you are talking as if it is fact.
3. Disappointment upon finding out there is ZERO proof but vague rumor, he said, she said, they heard, etc..

I am an open minded person grounded in logic. I am willing to entertain many outside the box ideas but REQUIRE evidence/proof of them for me to take them seriously.

I have found, in MANY different threads, many people, claiming things as FACT without any evidence. I find that very frustrating.

I have nothing against anyone who has a hypothesis and states it as such then goes onto explain that they have no evidence but just had an idea they wanted to pass along to get others opinions to see if it's worth pursuing.

Just my thoughts on the subject

You invade a country from within....from the bottom up.